Fredgreen's Ural trip to the Magdalen Islands

I'm sitting watching a winter storm blow through Nova Scotia, not much to do, so I think it's time to report in on a trip my girlfriend Marcella and I took to the Magdalen islands(Ilse de la Madeline for the French) in July. Marcella had been hinting for a year or so that she'd like to visit the Maggies, then the hints turned to more than hints. Finally I buckled and we decided to make it happen. The Maggies sit in the Gulf of St. Lawrence about 5 hours by ferry from Souris, Prince Edward Island, so lining up the ferry was the first order of business. We booked ourselves on the ferry for the 23rd of July and the seeds were planted. Our route was set out for secondary roads as the Ural isn't a hwy cruiser. The route would take us this way

We packed up the bike on the 20th, and were off first thing in the morning on the 21st.

It was a beautiful warm July day, the kind you don't get many of in Nova Scotia and Marcella, who is new to the motorcycle world, couldn't keep a grin off her face as we drove along the Bay of Fundy coast.

Our route took us along the Bay of Fundy,



the tide was out, a long way out. On this part of the Bay you can be a mile or more from the water when the tide goes out!





We stopped at a few of the look offs that we always seem to be in too much of a hurry to stop at.


and looked out at Cape Blomidon from a different angle then we are used to seeing.

we stopped in at Anthony Provincial Park and took a little stroll around, as neither of us had been there before.




As we were leaving, two DR650's pulled up. One of the riders took one look at me and yelled " You've got a Rick's Rendezvous shirt on" and ran over to talk. It was FalcoFred and his son, up from Tennessee, on an East coast tour. Sorry no pics of him, it was forgotten in the moment.

Back in the Ural, we trundled along into Truro, had a quick Timmies, then set out for Pictou and the Ferry to PEI.

Seeing as it sits between here and there.......I is in.
I like the 4 as a route for the Ural.

We weren't long waiting for the Ferry to PEI, and it was a gorgeous afternoon to sit out on the deck.





We passed the other Ferry on it' s return trip


and an hour later, we're in PEI

cool just rode this in sept, thanks for bringing it back

you were probably faster than the Ural!

We rolled off in PEI, and I had a plan, set up camp at Northumberland Prov. Park, grab some beer and food, then watch the sun set. Wrong! There was no food or beer to be found between us and Montague 50km (30miles) away...insert expletives here! 100 km later we arrived back to the tent, hungry and thirsty, in the dark. The next morning the sun rose over the camp



We packed up and off we drove in search of breakfast.

We had lots of time to kill as our ferry to the Maggies was not until 1600 the next day, so we had time to explore the PEI east coast. We pulled off the road and down a back lane to the shore and found out where jellyfish go to die! There were millions of them stranded here.

As we past Souris on our way to Red Point Prov. park, Marcella spied a dirt lane heading towards the shore. With the Ural in 2wd we plowed through the sand and ended up here



I plotted this spot later on Google earth to here



beach marks the spot, what a great spot!

more pics of this spot







Ural waiting at the top for our return

More pics of the monkey!

(I've actually seen your ugly mug enough! )

Bring it, Freddie!

fix't

It's the big day! Our ferry ride awaits

The Ferry terminal




The parking lot soon filled and we were loaded up

view from the boat







And off we sailed!

Our first glimpse of the islands is a small island called Entry Island. It sits about 10 miles out from the main island group



20 minutes or so later we were pulling into the marina

We hadn't made any camping reservations and after being turned away from one campground we found one that had sites, sort of. The sites were overgrown and neglected, but what can you do!



our rustic fire pit


It had been a long day, so we had a few celebratory drinks and called it a day at about 2130.

I wondered about how they priced your Ural for the ferry.
On the NL/NS run Marine Atlantic charges more for a sidecar equipped bike but there was no mention on the website for the ferry to the Magdalines.
Any extra charge incurred???

Not on this ferry, as long as I fit in the bike lane, which I did, the fare was the same. The NL ferry is the biggest scam rip off in Canada! A bagged beemer or cruiser is almost as wide as my Ural. I took the Tenere across NL in August, but that's another story.